Comedy aims at entertainment.
From the Latin comoedĭa , a comedy is a work that presents a majority of humorous or festive scenes and situations . Comedies seek to entertain the public and generate laughter, with endings that are usually happy. Comedy is also the genre that groups all works with these characteristics.
Likewise, another of the important hallmarks of every comedy is the fact that in it the central axis of the story revolves around the defects or vices of the protagonist character who acts as a representation of society in general. In this way, what is done is exaggerate and show those in order to carry out a moralizing tone.
A dramatic genre
Although it may seem contradictory, comedy is a dramatic genre , in the sense that it is a literary or artistic genre that presents different episodes of life through the dialogue of the characters.
The main character of a comedy usually represents an archetype (being a liar or a miser, for example). Their actions may respond to a stereotype , where the exaggeration of behavior amuses the viewer or reader.
Types of comedy
A situation comedy ( situation comedy or sitcom ) is a television format that was born in the United States with " I love Lucy" , starring Lucille Ball .
The name sitcom comes from the audience sitting in front of the actors, whose laughter is recorded in the episodes or, if the broadcast is live, is captured at the moment by the microphones.
In recent years, stand-up has become one of the most popular comedy formats.
Nor can we forget that within the television field, what is known as stand-up comedy has become fashionable, which is that space that is performed by a person, a comedian, live and in front of an audience. In this way he performs monologues about events or situations from our daily lives with which the attendees can identify. In this way, thanks to said identification, the funniest vein of those is exploited to make everyone laugh at them.
In Spain, for example, there is a very successful program of this type titled "The Comedy Club." A weekly space where the best stand-up comedians of the moment take the stage to exploit the most comical side of common situations in our existence such as falling in love, diets, playing sports or family fights.
Cinema and comics
In cinema, comedies are characterized by the inclusion of verbal or visual jokes . Cinematographic comedies date back to the origins of the seventh art, with films such as "El regador irrigated" , which premiered in 1896 .
In the cinematographic field, it is interesting to highlight the fact that there are various types of comedies. Thus, we find the animated comedy that is cartoon, the parodies that are funny versions of previous films or the romantic comedy. In the latter case, these are films that address all types of entanglements within couple relationships and examples of this are productions such as "When Harry Met Sally" (1989) or "Pretty Woman" (1990).
Finally, we can mention that a comic strip is a printed publication of graphic humor, generally characterized by caricatures. Nowadays, most newspapers include some comic strip.